"You have to understand, I can make anything," he says. "Anything beautiful but nonmagical of metal, given the metal, and anything magical given the right supplies. In the old days it was often an enchanted blade so that an unskilled girl or young man could protect themselves while rescuing a loved one from wrongful imprisonment; if it's for a selfless cause, I suppose I am still a romantic. But many more, especially these days, want things for themselves."

He shakes his head. "They may want complete power over some other person, or the ability to look through some magic mirror and kill others from afar, or eternal youth, something they really shouldn't have. Some of these people are monstrous. So I ask them for things that are either almost impossible to get to, like the elbow of Saint Sebastian or something; very difficult to find, like a gallon of water from some river overseas only vaguely defined; or something that would stop most sane people, like a body part of a loved one. I tell them it must be given voluntarily, and... they aren't."